doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Restocking a Sterly - Straight or PoW?

I am re-stocking a Fox Sterlingworth 16 gauge. Gun currently has the standard Sterlingworth pistol grip, which I'm not overly fond of. Not bad condition but an very ugly piece of Utica wood.

I had originally planned to have it done in a straight grip but, having noticed the majority of my old SxS's are PoW, I thought I might ask here for comments and input. It seems as I get closer and closer to pulling the trigger (word play intended) the more I am second guessing myself. The gun I shoot best is a Citori PoW with a 14 1/2" LOP, 1 1/2" DAC and 2 1/2" DAH. This gun, which I also shoot well, has pistol grip, 14 3/4" LOP, 1 5/8" DAC and 2 3/4 DAH.

One question I had....was a straight grip available on a Sterlingworth? This gun is from 1935. Here's a description from the 1935 catalog:

Sterlingworth Skeet and Upland Game Gun. 12 gauge, 16 gauge, 20 gauge. To meet the demand for a moderately priced skeet and upland game double gun we have produced the famous Fox-Sterlingworth gun in this new straight grip model with 26" barrels bored: right skeet, cylinder, left quarter choke.

Now mine has 28" barrels so it's not exact but they did do Sterlingworths with straight stocks and of course the graded guns could be had with a straight stock.

By the next year the Fox-Sterlingworth Skeet & Upland Game Gun was being offered with either 26- or 28-inch barrels. My 1937 vintage 12-gauge Fox-Sterlingworth Ejector Skeet & Upland Game Gun has 28-inch barrels --

Researcher, thanks for that bit of info and the pics. My biggest concern is with the tang. The tang on this one is blunt and poorly formed, especially when I simply compare it to the tangs on my early A grades.

I actually have two Sterly 16's I am working on, neither come close to being collectable, but I'm hoping to have a nice pair by the time I am done.

A word of caution when converting a standard Sterlingworth to a straight grip the tangs are usually bent up to raise the comb to modern dimension where as a semi-pistol grip which I presume you are referring to as a Prince of Wales the tangs do not need to be bent.

Make sure to look at the tang angle. Some are too low for a good straight grip stock. I did a 12 ga several years ago and had to have the tang bent upward. I could have left it but the stock would have either been 6 1/2" at the butt end or have one of those hideous pregnant guppy belly lines. I like the straight stock to have a straight lower line some do not care about it.

Doug Mann is a good one to get advice from on the tang issue. Both, the upper and lower tangs should be slightly altered to get a nice line. A Fox has a curved upper tang that should be flattened and adjusted to an angle to allow the upper line of the grip to be parallel to the lower line of the grip. The lower line of the grip should be straight to the toe and with a butt height of what you perceive as correct (5 1/4", etc.?) , it should get you the correct comb height.

Doug may be able to explain it better. It may also be easier to layout the whole gun by drawing it full size on some kraft paper with the barrel rib as the primary datum and the line of the comb drawn as your secondary datum, destablish the LOP at the heel, put in the buttplate height at the desired pitch angle, the lower line of the stock then is just connecting the toe with a straight line to the lower tang at about where the rear trigger is. Then adjust the tang angles to fit. If the lower tang angle is adjusted, it likely will require bending the sears to move with the triggers.

Chuck, I get how the angle of the tangs may have to be adjusted to get the right lines, but I don't understand, if the lower tang angle is adjusted, how that impacts triggers and potentially the sears.

Wouldn't any bending of the tang take place where the trigger guard tang meets the trigger plate tang behind the triggers and therefore why is the position of triggers/sears being affected.

Clearly there is something here I am not understanding.

Can't help, James, just know the straight would be preferable to me. I have a 1926 original.

Can-I have two SW's that were restocked, one I purchased that way and the other I stocked. I could not shoot a gun with 2-3/4 or 3 inches of drop.
Another thing to know is that since the top tang is shaped for a standard Sterlingworth with a lot of drop (2-3/4" in 1935) the comb on your new stock may be much more pronounced. Though you mentioned that you can shoot the gun the way it is shaped, you could keep the comb drop at 1-5/8" but raise the DAH to something more than 2-3/4" to make the center point of the comb more like your Citori.

My Sterlingworths have POW grips as original which I prefer for a short tang gun. Then, I am not all gaga about straight grips (even though I have 4 guns with them!)

Whatever you do, you'll be spending a lot of $ or time stocking the gun. I suggest raising the comb to modern dimensions, but take the time to figure what will work for you. You can always sand or file down a high comb, but raising a comb is a different story...not easy.

Have fun and Happy Holidays!

Can- I forgot one thing. You may find it a bit harder to balance a straight stocked gun if you keep the butt end as original. This depends on The barrel weight. Foxes with #3 or #4 barrels (as marked on the underside of the barrels in front of the barrel flats)are lightest, while #2 or #1 are quite heavy.

Steven Dodd Hughes remade a Fox Sterlingworth which he writes about in one of his very good books. He shows a straight hand SW and others with pistol grips, as redone. He recommends a gun balance 4-1/4" to 4-1/2" in front of the front trigger, which is just at or beyond the hinge pin on a Fox. Works for me.

The neat thing about restocking a gun is that it can be made to fit, and balance.